In do-or-die mode, Biden does neither
CBC
Joe Biden's foreign allies left town on Thursday. His allies at home, meanwhile, closed in for the political kill.
Swarmed by a domestic political crisis, the embattled U.S. president held a rare, unscripted and free-wheeling news conference to close out this week's NATO summit.
The event was carried live across TV networks as a do-or-die moment for Biden's campaign, as numerous Democrats weigh whether to join the dozen-plus lawmakers publicly pressing him to drop out of the presidential campaign, amid doubts about his age and abilities.
In this do-or-die moment, what did Biden deliver? Something in between, a not-too-hot, not-too-cold performance, like his recent ABC interview, that leaves his allies floundering forward in a state of prolonged purgatory.
"I think it's important to allay fears by letting them see me out there," Biden said, when asked about those doubts.
Here's what they saw: an aging president dropping cringe-inducing clunkers. He referred to Donald Trump as his vice-president, after earlier in the day drawing gasps at the summit by introducing Ukraine's president as "President Putin," before correcting himself.
But they also saw the president deliver lengthy, substantive answers to policy questions, even if none will enter the anthologies of hallowed American oratory.
He celebrated news of softening inflation and a successful NATO conference, while excoriating Trump as a threat to democracy, the democratic alliance, and to people's pocketbooks with his promise of a 10 per cent global tariff.
But perhaps the most intriguing parts of the news conference came in fragments of answers that could be interpreted as indicating Biden not permanently, completely, ruling out resigning.
More than once, he referred flatteringly to his Vice-President Kamala Harris as eminently qualified to be president, touting her success as a prosecutor, senator and running mate.
Unfortunately for him, his first reference to Harris began with: "I wouldn't have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president if I think she's not qualified to be president."
The other intriguing reply came toward the end when Biden was asked whether there's anything his advisers could say to make him drop out.
After ruling it out, he added a caveat.
"No. Unless they came back and said, 'There's no way you can win,'" Biden replied, less emphatic than last week when he said only God could force him from the race.
A proposal for a hydrogen-powered passenger rail connecting Calgary and Banff has been submitted to the federal government in the hopes of having it fast-tracked.
The P.E.I. Green Party is calling on government to release the fall fiscal update. The checkup on the province's finances is typically released sometime in October.
A main road in Inuvik, N.W.T., is closed and water is shut off for part of the town after a utilidor leak.
Immigration Minister Lena Diab sparred with her Conservative critic at a tense House of Commons committee meeting Thursday as the two disagreed on everything from immigration levels and deporting non-citizen criminals to what kind of salad they prefer.
A report by the City of Calgary presented to councillors says blanket rezoning has so far required only "minimal" upgrades to infrastructure.
Changes are coming to residential recycling in Toronto starting in the new year, two councillors announced on Thursday.
Before a bitumen pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s northwest coast can be built, there's another box that needs to be checked: a massive investment in carbon capture and storage in central Alberta.
Jeremy Tunraluk, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), is on leave from his position after he was charged with assault.
The head of Canada's Leaders' Debates Commission says the independent body should stop organizing post-debate news conferences and will make changes to how it decides what leaders to invite after this spring's leadership debate was surrounded by controversy.
The Alberta Health Services CEO who took over after a controversial firing in January is now himself off the job.
Standing inside her non-profit managed rental unit in central Windsor, Ont., Sue Pare points to a crack in her kitchen floor she can’t get fixed.
Five people were sent to hospital, including one person with life-threatening injuries, after a fire broke out at a fraternity house near Western University prompting a police investigation.
A rusting and derelict ship that’s been looming large over the waterfront in Springdale for years will soon be removed and disposed of by the federal government.